JPH08274969A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To revise colors efficiently by revising the color through a color revision command of form image data to be overlapped during image data recording, overlapping the form image data with image data and providing the output of the resulting data. CONSTITUTION: When an operation panel 209 is used to make a color revision command to a form image during reception of form data, color image data for one pixel to be registered are read from an EEPROM 215 and optional color data are selected. When a form overlay print is commanded by the panel 209, the content is stored in a flag in a RAM 204. Upon the receipt of image data by one page, the data are stored in a page memory 211, the flag in the RAM 204 is referenced to expand the stored form data and image data in terms of bit map and image data overlapping the form image and the received image are stored to a bit map memory 205 via a companding circuit 206. The data stored in the memory 205 are transferred to a printer engine 100, where the data are printed out.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and more particularly to a recording apparatus for superposing form image data input in advance and image data input thereafter to perform multicolor recording of one page.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, as an output device of a computer,
Information recording devices using electrophotography, such as laser beam printers, have come into wide use.

These information recording devices are capable of high quality printing,
Many merits such as quietness and high speed have become a factor for rapidly expanding the field of desktop publishing.

Further, an electrophotographic color printer has been developed, and not only conventional monochrome printing but also color images can be handled and printed by improving the performance of a host computer and a controller which is an image generating unit of the printer. It has been put to practical use and is becoming popular.

[0005]

As an additional function of the conventional monochrome laser beam printer, the background image data is downloaded from the host computer to the printer in advance, and the background image data is superposed on the image data received later. There is also a form overlay printing function that prints out together.

In such form overlay printing, it is not necessary to send a format such as a letterhead, a header, and a footer including a table and a company name from the computer for each page, and therefore printing can be performed efficiently.

In the case of implementing form overlay printing using a color form image in a color printer, image information of the form is stored in advance in the printer in a format such as YMCK or RGB, and the stored color form image is Form overlay printing is performed by expanding it on the same bitmap memory as the normal print image information.

Conventionally, when performing form overlay printing, the form color is determined only by the image information when the form image data is read.

However, according to the conventional technique, the form image data cannot be processed after the form data is read from the host computer. There is also a problem that it is not possible to specify whether to overwrite the image data or the form data with respect to the form data.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, to change the color of a form image used during recording of a series of image data, and to output the form data for the overlapping portion of the form image and the data image. It is to provide a recording device capable of designating whether to perform or output image data.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, during the recording of a series of image data, the color change of the form image data to be superposed on the image data of one page and recorded. A configuration is adopted in which an instruction is received, the color of the form image data is changed according to the color change instruction, and the form image data and the image data input later are superimposed and recorded and output.

[0012]

With the above arrangement, it is possible to efficiently change the color of the form image data to be recorded while being superimposed on the image data during recording of a series of image data.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a 600 dpi color laser beam printer will be described.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a color laser beam printer 501 adopting the present invention. As shown,
The printer 501 is composed of a video controller 200 (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as “controller”) and a printer engine 100 (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as “engine”).

The video controller 200 receives code data and image data described in the printer language (or page description language) sent from the external host computer 502, and based on these data, multi-valued image data for one page. To generate. This multi-valued image data is received from the host in the RGB format and converted into four-color data of magenta, cyan, yellow, and black inside the printer.

The printer engine 100 scans a photosensitive drum with a laser beam modulated according to input multi-valued image data to form a latent image, which is transferred to recording paper and then fixed by an electrophotographic process. Do. The printer engine 100 has a resolution of 600 dpi.

The video controller 200 and printer engine 100 are connected by an interface signal line 300.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the video controller 200 in detail. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 denotes a host interface, which communicates with a host computer, receives code data and image data described in a printer-specific language, and converts input image data in RGB format into YMCK format in an image processing unit 207. Convert it to data,
Image data for one page of each YMCK plane is stored in the page memory 211.

Four page memories 211 are prepared for each plane of YMCK.

Reference numeral 202 is a CPU which controls the entire controller 200, 203 is a ROM which stores the control program of the CPU 202, font data, etc., 204
Is a RAM serving as a work area of the CPU 202.

Reference numeral 206 is a compression / expansion circuit, which is YMCK8.
It has the function of compressing and expanding bit multi-valued image information.
Reference numeral 205 denotes a bitmap memory, which stores the multivalued image data of each YMCK plane for one print page compressed by the CPU 202 by the image data stored in the page memory and compressed by the compression / expansion circuit 206.

Reference numeral 207 denotes an image processing unit which converts the RGB multi-valued image information inputted from the host computer into the toner colors of the printer engine, which are magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y) and black (Bk). It has a function of converting into multi-valued image information of, and further converted into smoothed information of 600 dpi, and generating an image attribute signal / IMCHR described later.

Reference numeral 208 is a printer interface,
This is an interface circuit with the printer engine 100. Reference numeral 209 indicates an operation panel, and the operator can directly perform various settings for the printer by operating the operation panel 209. Data exchange between the blocks in the controller is performed via the data bus 210.

An interface signal line 30 connecting the video controller 200 and the printer engine 100 will be described below.
The main interface signals on 0 will be described. In the following description, a signal name preceded by / is an L level active signal.

The / RDY signal corresponds to the printer engine 100.
Is a signal sent from the video controller 200 to the video controller 200, and indicates that the engine 100 is ready to start the print operation or can continue the print operation when it receives a / PRNT signal described later.

The / PRNT signal is a signal sent from the controller 200 to the printer engine 100, and is a signal for instructing to start the printing operation or to continue the printing operation.

The / TOP signal is a synchronizing signal in the sub-scanning (vertical scanning) direction and is sent from the engine 100 to the controller 200.

The / LSYNC signal is used for main scanning (horizontal scanning).
This is a direction synchronization signal and is sent from the engine 100 to the controller 200.

The / VDO7 to / VDO0 signals are image signals sent from the controller 200 to the engine 100 and indicate image density information to be printed by the engine. / VDO7 is represented by the most significant 8 bits and / VDO0 is represented by the least significant 8 bits. In the engine, / VDO7 to / VDO
When the 0 signal is 00H, printing is performed with the maximum density of the toner color being developed, and when FFH is not printed.

The / IMCHR signal is a signal indicating an image attribute and is sent from the controller 200 to the engine 100. When this signal is "true", it indicates that the image emphasizes gradation, and when this signal is "false", it indicates that the image emphasizes resolution. In the engine, when the / IMCHR signal is "true", P
When the number of lines of the WM (unit indicating density) is 200 lines / inch (hereinafter, "/ inch" is abbreviated and described), the printing is performed. When the / IMCHR signal is "false", the PWM
The number of lines is set to 600 and printing is performed.

The VCLK signal is an image signal / VDO7- /
The transfer clock signal of VDO0 and the image attribute signal / IMCHR is sent from the controller to the engine. The controller synchronizes with the rising edge of the VCLK signal / VDO7 to / VDO0 signals and / IMC
Send the HR signal.

Next, a color image forming process in the above color laser beam printer will be described. 1 and 2, the code data (described by a printer language, a page description language, or a character code) input from the host interface 201 is 300 dpi that represents a character, a figure, or an image by a predetermined drawing algorithm. Each color is expanded into 8-bit YMCK multi-valued image data. The expanded YMCK image data is compressed by the compression / expansion circuit 206.

The compression / expansion circuit can compress the input image data by, for example, the JPEG algorithm, and can output the compressed data while expanding the compressed data in real time. The compressed image data is stored in the bitmap memory 205.

When the compressed image data for one page can be prepared in the bitmap memory as described above, the video controller 200 sends the / RD from the printer engine 100.
If the Y signal is "true", the / PRNT signal is set to "true" to instruct the printer engine to start the recording operation.

Next, the configuration and operation of the printer engine 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows the structure of the optical unit in FIG.

When the printer engine 100 receives the / PRNT signal, it is driven by the driving means (not shown).
06 and the transfer drum 108 are rotated in the direction of the arrow shown.

Then, charging of the roller charger 109 is started, and the potential on the photosensitive drum 106 is uniformly charged to a predetermined value. Then, the paper feed roller 111 feeds the recording paper 128 from the recording paper cassette 110 to the transfer drum 108.

The transfer drum 108 is a hollow support body covered with a dielectric sheet, and rotates in the direction of the arrow at the same speed as the photosensitive drum 106. When the recording paper 128 is supplied to the transfer drum 108, the recording paper 128 is held by the gripper 112 provided on the support of the transfer drum, and the recording paper 128 is transferred by the suction roller 113 and the suction charger 114. Adsorb to 108.

At the same time, the support 115 of the developing device is rotated so that the four-color developing device 116 supported by the support 115 is rotated.
Of the M, 116C, 116Y, and 116Bk, the developing device 116M containing the magenta toner which is the first toner.
Are opposed to the photosensitive drum 106. Here, 116C is a developing device containing cyan toner, 116Y is a developing device containing yellow toner, and 116Bk is a developing device containing black toner.

On the other hand, the printer engine 100 detects the leading edge of the recording paper 128 adsorbed on the transfer drum 106 by the detector 117, generates a vertical synchronizing signal / TOP at a predetermined timing, and sends it to the controller 200.

When the controller 200 receives the first / TOP signal for the print page, it starts reading the compressed image data stored in the bitmap memory 205. The read data is Y in the compression / expansion circuit 206.
MCK is expanded in real time into 8-bit image data.

In the image processing unit 207, the input image data is converted from the first print color of 300 dpi magenta data to 600 dpi, 8-bit smoothed data, and at the same time, the image attribute signal / I
MCHR is generated.

Details of the processing in the smoothing processing unit 207 will be described later. 600d generated above
The image data of pi is the image signal / VDO7 to / VDO0.
Is sent to the printer engine in synchronization with the image attribute signal / IMCHR and the VCLK signal.

/ VDO7 output from the controller
The / VDO0 signal and the / IMCHR signal are input to the pulse width modulation circuit 101 as shown in FIG. 4, and become the laser drive signal VDO having a pulse width according to the level.

FIG. 5 shows an internal block diagram of the pulse width modulation circuit 101. In the figure, 129 is a line memory. This line memory 129 is configured in a toggle buffer format, and has a configuration in which writing and reading can be simultaneously performed by independent clocks. 130 is a clock generation circuit, which is a horizontal synchronization signal / HS.
Pattern clock signals PCLK and P synchronized with YNC
A clock signal 1 / 3PCLK is generated by dividing CLK by 1/3.

The pattern clock signal PCLK is 600
It has a cycle corresponding to 1 dot printing of dpi. Also,
131 is a γ conversion circuit, 132 is a D / A conversion circuit, 133
Is a phase control circuit, 134 and 135 are triangular wave generation circuits, 1
36, 137 are comparators, 138 is a selector, 13
9 is a D flip-flop. The operation of the pulse width modulation circuit 101 will be described below.

First, / VDO7- / for one main scanning line
The VDO0 signal and the / IMCHR signal are written in the line memory 129 by the clock signal VCLK.

When the writing of the first line is completed, the line memory 12 is driven by the horizontal synchronizing signal / HYNC of the next line.
The bank for writing 9 is switched, and the signal of the next second line is written, and at the same time, the already written data of the first line is read by the pattern clock signal PCLK.

The read / VDO7 to / VDO0 signals and the / IMCHR signal are input to the γ correction circuit 131. In the γ correction circuit 131, the / VDO7 to / VDO0 signals are subjected to the γ conversion most suitable for the process conditions of the printer engine in accordance with the number of PWM lines designated by the / IMCHR signal. γ-converted 8-bit image signal / VD7〜
/ VD0 is converted into an analog voltage by the D / A conversion circuit 132 according to the value and becomes the analog video signal AVD. At this time, the D / A conversion circuit 132 determines that the image signal / VD
The minimum voltage is generated when the value of 7 to / VD0 is 00H, and FFH
Generates maximum voltage at. Above analog video signal AVD
Is input to the negative inputs of comparators 136 and 137.

On the other hand, the positive inputs of the comparators 136 and 137 respectively output the output TRI1 of the triangular wave generating circuit 134.
And the output TRI2 of the triangular wave generation circuit 135 is input. The triangular wave generation circuit 134 is configured as shown in FIG. 6, for example.

In the figure, the changeover switch 152 supplies the pattern clock signal PCLK to the phase control circuit 133.
The clock signal PCLK 'whose phase has been changed by is input. When the clock PCLK ′ is at the H level, the switch 152 connects the a terminal and the c terminal and allows the current I from the current source 150 to flow through the capacitor 153. As a result, the capacitor 153 is charged and the voltage value V increases linearly.

Next, when the clock PCLK 'becomes L level, the b end and the c end of the switch 152 are connected, and the current source 1
A current I flows through 51, the electric charge accumulated in the capacitor 153 is discharged, and the voltage value V linearly decreases. As described above, the triangular wave signal TRI1 having the same period as the pattern clock signal PCLK is obtained. Although the triangular wave generating circuit 135 is similarly configured, since the input clock is ⅓PCLK ′, the cycle of the output triangular wave signal TRI2 is equal to ⅓PCLK, that is, three times TRI1.

Next, the comparators 136 and 137 compare the voltage levels of the analog video signal AVD and the triangular wave signals TRI1 and TRI2 to obtain pulse width modulation signals PWM1 and PWM2, respectively. Therefore, the pulse width modulation signal PWM1 has 600 lines, and the pulse width modulation signal PWM2 has 200 lines.

The pulse width modulation signals PWM1 and PWM
2 is input to the selector 138, and the image attribute signal / IMC is input.
It is selected according to HR. When / IMCHR is "true", that is, when it is at the L level, PWM2 having excellent gradation is selected. Further, when / IMCHR is "false", that is, H level, PWM1 which is excellent in resolution is selected.

The selected signal is sent to the laser driver as the laser drive signal VDO. At the time of development, which will be described later, the density of the image is reproduced according to the pulse width of the laser drive signal VDO. The pulse width modulation circuit 10 described above
The timing chart of No. 1 is shown in FIG. In FIG. 7, on the left side from the center part, the PWM1 having the / IMCHR signal of "false" or H level and excellent in resolution is selected, and on the right side, the PWM2 having the / IMCHR of "true", that is, having the L level and excellent in gradation is selected. It is selected.

Next, referring to FIG. 4, the laser drive signal V
The laser beam 127 from the laser diode 103 driven according to DO is deflected by the rotary polygon mirror 104 which is rotationally driven in the arrow direction by a motor (not shown), passes through an imaging lens 105 arranged on the optical path, and is exposed. Drum 106
The upper part is scanned in the main scanning direction to form a latent image on the photosensitive drum 106. At this time, the beam detector 107 detects the scanning start point of the laser beam, and a / LSYNC signal which is a horizontal synchronizing signal for determining the image writing timing of the main scanning is generated from this detection signal.

The main scanning operation described above is repeated to 1
A magenta latent image for a page is formed on the photosensitive drum 106. The pattern clock signal PCLK
When the phase of each is the same in each main scanning, the images formed are connected in the vertical (sub-scanning) direction, and the number of lines of PWM is 20 in particular.
When the line is 0, it becomes a vertical line and stands out. Therefore, FIG.
This is prevented by shifting the phase of the pattern clock signal PCLK within the range of one clock cycle by the phase control circuit 133 for each main scanning.

Returning to FIG. 3, the latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 106 is the developing device 11 containing the magenta toner.
It is developed by 6M and becomes a magenta toner image. This magenta toner image is transferred by the transfer charger 119.
Recording sheet 1 attracted to rotating transfer roller 108
28. At this time, the photosensitive drum 1 is not transferred.
The toner remaining on 06 is removed by the cleaning device 125. By the above operation, a magenta toner image for one page is formed on the recording paper 128.

Next, the support 115 of the developing device is rotated so that the developing device 116C containing the cyan toner, which is the second toner, is opposed to the photosensitive drum 106. continue,
As in the case of magenta, the detector 117 detects the leading edge of the recording paper 128 that is still attracted to the transfer roller 108, generates a vertical synchronization signal / TOP, and sends it to the video controller 200. In response to this, the video controller 200 reads the compressed image data from the bitmap memory 205, and the compression / expansion circuit 206 outputs the original YMCK,
Decompress each 8-bit image data in real time.

Thereafter, by the same operation, the recording paper 128
A cyan toner image is transferred on top of the magenta toner image.

Further, similarly, a yellow toner image which is the third toner and a black toner image which is the fourth toner are superimposed and transferred on the recording paper 128 to form a full-color toner image.

The recording paper 128 on which all the four color toner images have been transferred as described above passes through the separation charger 120,
It is peeled off from the transfer drum 108 by the separation claw 121, and is supplied to the fixing device 123 by the conveying means 122. At this time, the transfer drum cleaner 126 cleans the transfer drum surface.

The toner image on the recording paper is fused and fixed by being heated and pressed by the fixing device 123, and becomes a final color output image. Then, the recording sheet for which recording has been completed is discharged to the discharge tray 124.

FIG. 8 shows the processing of the video controller 200 when performing form overlay printing in the printer control system configured as described above. The process of FIG. 8 is performed by the ROM 203 as a program of the CPU 202.
Stored in.

When an instruction from the operation panel 209 of the printer or the host computer 502 gives an instruction to take in the form data, the host computer 201 sends black and white form image data through the host interface 201 or RGB form image data. Is received and stored in the page memory 211 (step S801).

Thereafter, one page of image data (or input from the printer operation panel 209) transmitted from the host computer 502 is processed in steps S802 to S8.
It is processed in the loop of 06.

When a color designation instruction for form data is received from the operation panel 209 of the printer or the host computer 502, the color information of the form data on the page memory is changed according to the content of the instruction (step S80).
2, S803). The color specification instruction of the form data from the host computer 502 is based on a predetermined format such as a printer language and a page description language, or by a predetermined escape sequence.

When the color change instruction of the form image is issued from the host computer, the form image data itself is not retransmitted from the host, but an image of one pixel is sent to the printer, and the constituent pixels of the form image are set inside the printer. All are replaced by pixel data sent from the host (FIG. 11).

When an instruction to change the color of the form image is issued from the operation panel 209 of the printer, the color image data for one pixel (YMCK format) registered in advance is registered.
According to the instruction from the operation panel 209 of the printer.
Read from EPROM 215.

A plurality of color image data for one pixel are registered in the EEPROM 215, and any color data can be selected from these by operating the operation panel 209 of the printer.

After that, when form overlay printing is instructed from the operation panel 209 of the printer or the host computer 502, the instruction contents are stored in the RAM 204.
It is stored in the flag inside (steps S804, S80
5). This form overlay printing instruction is also given based on a predetermined format of the printer language, page description language, or by a predetermined escape sequence.

When one page of image data is received from the host computer 502 (step S806), this 1
The image data of the page is stored in the page memory 211 and R
When the form overlay print mode is set by referring to the flag of AM204, the stored form data and image data are both bitmap-expanded, compressed by the compression / expansion circuit 206, and stored in the bitmap memory 205. (Steps S807 and S80
8).

At this time, the data stored in the bitmap memory 205 in step S808 is image data in which the form image and the image received thereafter are overwritten.

If the form overlay print mode is not set, only the transferred image data is expanded into a bitmap and stored in the bitmap memory 205 (step S809).

The data stored in the bitmap memory 205 is transferred to the printer engine 100 and printed by the above control.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the form image F transferred from the host in advance, the data content D transferred from the host thereafter, and the overlay printing result R thereof.

In FIG. 9, the form image F is composed of a table format and a header, and an image of data D consisting of character data to be printed in the table is superposed on the bitmap memory 205 to obtain an overlay print result R. Is obtained.

According to the above processing, for example, when it is desired to change the color of the frame (ruled line) of the chart of the form image F only for a specific page, the printer language and page are transferred before the image of that page is transferred. An overlay print result R for the page is sent by transmitting from the host a color specification instruction of a form described based on a predetermined format of the description language or a color specification instruction described by a predetermined escape sequence, and then transferring the image data. You can change the color of the frame (ruled line) of the inside chart. To restore the color of the frame of the chart to the original color, it is sufficient to send the form color change instruction again from the host.

FIG. 10 shows a process different from that of FIG. In FIG. 10, it is possible to specify whether to output the form image data, the normal image data, or the mixed color of the two in the overlapping portion of the form data and the image data overlaid on the form data. It is the one.

Steps S901 to S9 in FIG.
10 corresponds to steps S801 to S810 in FIG. 8, but the processes in steps S903 and S908 are different from those in FIG.

When the color designation of the overlapping portion of the form data and the image data is received from the operation panel 209 of the printer or the host computer 502 in step S903, the instruction content is stored in the RAM 204. When this instruction is given from the host, the color designation instruction described based on a predetermined format of the printer language or page description language or by a predetermined escape sequence is transmitted as described above.

The contents of the color change processing performed by designating the color of the overlapping portion are as follows: The color of the overlapping portion of the form and image data is output in the color of the form image.

Output the color of the overlapping portion of the form and the image data in the color of the image data.

Output the color of the overlapping portion of the form and the image data as a color in which the color of the form image and the color of the image data are mixed.

In step S 908, the form data and the image data are both bit-mapped and compressed by the compression / decompression circuit 206, and the bit map memory 205 is compressed.
In step S903, if the color designation of the overlapping portion of the form data and the image data is received, the YM received from the host computer 502 is stored.
CK The overlap between the form and the image data is detected by taking the logical product of the bitmap image in which the image data of each plane is expanded and the bitmap image in which the form data is expanded for each YMCK plane, and the pixels of the overlap portion are detected. Is written in the bitmap memory 205 according to the designated color pixel data.

By the processing shown in FIG. 10, the color of the overlapping portion of the form data and the image data overlaid on it can be changed.

As described above, according to the processing of FIG. 8 or FIG. 10, the operation unit of the recording apparatus is read after the form image data is read from the host computer without adding special hardware to the conventional recording apparatus. Alternatively, the color of the form image can be freely specified by an instruction from the host computer. In that case, it is not necessary to retransmit the form data from the host for each color designation, and the throughput of the recording process can be improved. In particular, according to the embodiment of FIG. 10, it is possible to specify the color of the overlapping portion of the data overwritten with the form from the operation unit of the recording apparatus or the host computer.

[0088]

As is apparent from the above, according to the present invention, during the recording of a series of image data, the color designation of the form image data to be recorded by superimposing with the image data of one page is accepted, The color designation of the form image data is changed according to the designation, and the configuration is adopted in which the form image data entered in advance and the image data entered later are superimposed and recorded and output. It is possible to provide an excellent recording apparatus capable of efficiently changing the color designation of the form image data to be recorded in superimposition with the image data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a color laser beam printer.

2 is a block diagram showing in detail the video controller portion of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a printer engine.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of an image signal of a printer engine.

5 is a block diagram of the pulse width modulation circuit of FIG.

6 is a configuration diagram of the triangular wave generation circuit of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a timing diagram showing an operation of the pulse width modulation circuit of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an output process capable of designating a color of form data.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of form overlay printing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an output process capable of designating a color of an overlapping portion of form data and image data.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of form image data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Printer Engine 101 Pulse Width Modulation Circuit 103 Laser Diode 105 Imaging Lens 106 Photosensitive Drum 107 Beam Detector 108 Transfer Drum 109 Roller Charger 111 Paper Feed Roller 110 Recording Paper Cassette 112 Gripper 113 Adsorption Roller 114 Adsorption Charger 115 Support 116Y Developing device containing yellow toner 116M Developing device containing magenta toner 116C Developing device containing cyan toner 116Bk Developing device containing black toner 117 Detector 119 Transfer charger 120 Separation charger 121 Separation claw 122 Conveying Means 123 Fixing Device 124 Paper Ejection Tray 125 Cleaning Device 126 Transfer Drum Cleaner 127 Laser Beam 128 Recording Paper 129 Line Memory 130 Clos Power generation circuit 131 γ conversion circuit 132 D / A conversion circuit 133 Phase control circuit 134 Triangle wave generation circuit 135 Triangle wave generation circuit 136 Comparator 137 Comparator 138 Selector 139 D flip-flop 150 Current source 152 Switch 153 Capacitor 200 Video controller 201 Host interface 202 CPU 203 ROM 204 RAM 205 Bitmap memory 206 Compression / expansion circuit 207 Image processing unit 208 Printer interface 209 Operation panel 210 Data bus 211 Page memory 251 Black character detection circuit 252 Color signal conversion circuit 253 Smoothing processing circuit 300 Interface signal line 501 Color laser printer 502 Host computer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for performing multi-color recording of one page by superposing pre-input form image data and subsequently input image data, wherein one page of image data is recorded during recording of a series of image data. Accepts color specification of form image data to be recorded by superimposing, changes the color specification of the form image data according to this color specification, and superimposes previously input form image data and image data input later. A recording device which records and outputs together. 2. A means for fetching a form image from a host computer and storing it in a memory; a means for designating a color of the form image data; It has means for rewriting color information of the form image data on the memory, means for superimposing the form image data taken in from the host and image data inputted later, and bit map expanding and recording and outputting. The recording apparatus according to claim 1. 3. A means for fetching a form image from a host computer and storing it in a memory, and outputting the form image data, the normal image data, or 2 to the overlapping portion of the form image data and the image data. Means for selecting whether to mix and output two, form means for expanding the form image data fetched from the host computer and image data inputted later into the same bitmap memory; A means for determining an overlapping portion of images by taking a logical product of the bitmap data of the captured form image and the bitmap data of the image data input later for each plane of YMCK, and a series of image data During recording, according to the instruction given by the overlapping part color designation means, the bitmap After having rewritten the color information of the overlap portion of the image on the memory, the recording apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a means for recording outputs the image bitmap.